BOULDER -- If Boulder County can slowly phase in the oil and gas development that's expected to occur in eastern Boulder County, county government will be in a better position to see whether its local regulations can adequately protect the public's health and safety and the environment.

That, at least, was one of the hopes that county commissioners expressed during a Tuesday meeting in which they decided against a multiple-year extension of the moratorium on applications for new oil and gas wells, a time-out that's set to expire June 10.

Commissioner Deb Gardner said she hopes that before any county development permits are issued, Boulder County will have been able to hire its own inspectors and technical experts -- and that those people can be "on the ground" and available to thoroughly monitor drilling before it begins.

That might even include a 24 hours a day, seven days a week presence by those county inspectors and technicians at some of those well locations, Gardner suggested.

Commissioner Cindy Domenico supported the idea of seeing whether Boulder County can slow the process of granting county development approval for a limited number of new wells over the coming year or two, making that drilling and the subsequent oil and gas production from those wells "very controlled" and closely monitored.

Gardner said that approach of phasing in oil and gas development also would allow officials to see whether the county's new Land Use Code rules about oil and gas exploration and production, adopted in December, are working as intended or need to be amended to provide better protections.

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Domenico said the idea of a phasing-in of oil and gas drilling at a yet-to-be set limited number of locations would "give us time" to make rules changes before further permits are issued.

Gardner said the taking-it-slowly process of allowing drilling to resume -- to be detailed in a set of additional Land Use Code provisions the commissioners are expected to consider June 5 -- also could give the county the experience and time necessary to find answers to questions about the safe distances wells should be located away from homes, other buildings, and environmentally sensitive sites, "if there is a safe distance."

New coordinator pushes Buffs to work, play at level he expectsJim Leavitt has discovered this much about his new defense at Colorado: He has some talent with which to work, but his players need to put it in another gear. Full Story

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